It’s almost time for the conference season to start. Enough of the blowouts and easy games against Northeast Indiana Wesleyan Baptist Seminary. Since this is a natural break in the season, it is also a good time for a good old fashioned power poll.
Since it is day after Christmas, and I don’t want to work too hard at this, the theme for the power poll is Day After Christmas activities. We had seven voters take part in this highly scientific and accurate poll.
1. Indiana: Sleeping all day
91 total points. 5 first place votes.
Sleeping all day is a great way to refresh after having a great Christmas. Cooking, cleaning, entertaining guests, and unwrapping presents take a lot of you. The best way to get it back is to sleep all day.
2. Wisconsin: Going to a Boxing Day celebration
89 total points. 1 first place vote.
Boxing Day is the day after Christmas, and it is celebrated in Britain and countries with British roots like Canada. Since the USA has British roots, Americans should have no trouble finding a Boxing Day parade or two to attend.
3. Purdue: Watching Bowl Games
83 total points.
Since Purdue hasn’t had a good football team in a long time, Purdue fans are used to watching bowl games with teams other than Purdue. The St. Petersburg Bowl, Quick Lane Bowl, and the Camping World Independence Bowl all take place on Dec. 26 this year.
4. Maryland: Going to a movie
82 total points.
Movies are fun to watch at the theater. Sure the tickets are expensive, and the snacks and drinks are obscenely-priced, but where else can you be distracted by people’s cell phones and dumb conversations while trying to watch a movie?
5. Michigan: Eating leftovers
67 total points.
If you happen to be lucky enough to have a bunch of good leftovers, it is a good idea to spend a whole day eating them all. The food will be good, and it will give you a good reason to visit a nice restaurant the next day.
6. Northwestern: Playing video games
59 total points.
Video games give players all sorts of options these days. You can play by yourself and not have to deal with others for the whole day. Alternatively, you can strap on the headset and get killed by mouthy little kids in multiplayer games.
7. Minnesota: Watching the Godzilla movie marathon
56 total points. 1 first place vote.
There is a Godzilla movie marathon on the El Rey network. Ever want to watch Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II and Godzilla vs King Ghidorah back-to-back? Today is your lucky day.
8. Illinois: Watching the Elvis movie marathon
49 total points.
TCM is having an Elvis marathon today, showing classics such as Stay Away, Joe:
A rodeo rider (Elvis Presley) gets government approval to raise cattle on land of his father (Burgess Meredith) at an Indian reservation in Arizona.
9. Ohio State: Buying a fake Christmas tree on sale
42 total points.
I’m not usually a fan of going shopping on Boxing Day, but it could be worth it to get a cheap artificial tree to stuff in the attic until next year.
10. Iowa: Reading a book
33 total points.
If you can’t find anything better to do, you could always read a book to pass the time. I recommend any of the Harry Bosch books by Michael Connelly.
11. Michigan State: Working on home improvement projects
32 total points.
It is useful and productive to work on home improvement projects if you have the day off of work, but it is a very, very, lame thing to do.
12. Rutgers: Cleaning the house
30 total points.
Cleaning the house can always be put off until later. Doing almost anything else would be better.
13. Penn State: Working
16 total points.
I feel sorry for anyone who has to work on the day after Christmas. What a sad thing to be doing when almost everyone else is doing something fun.
14. Nebraska: Returning gifts at a store
7 total points.
This can wait at least until tomorrow, so wait and do this tomorrow.